“For Christians there is no such thing as distance” (St. Porphyrios)

Audio recording of Saint Porphyrios (Bairaktaris): “For Christians, for the people of God, there is no such thing as distance. You can be with someone and at the same time you can talk with God. There are other mysteries: Christians never separate from each other. They are united even if they be thousands of miles apart!”

“I haven’t achieved what I desire. I haven’t managed to love Christ so very fervently, and for my soul to long for Him. This is what I desire and look for but I feel I am very far.

But I’m not discouraged and so inspite of the fact that I feel weak and that I haven’t achieved what I desire, I nevertheless do not fall into despair. It is a consolation to me that I don’t cease to try continually. Let’s say I’m not discouraged because I see this in myself. I see that even if I can’t achieve what I desire, I try, I try continually, I unceasingly long for this, and yet I can not achieve it. It seems like I begin to grasp something, but it’s not what I desire. Pray for me, too! And this is the problem.

I say: I cannot love Christ if Christ does not enter my soul, so that He will love me. And Christ cannot love me if my soul does not have something which will attract Him to love me.

Maybe this is what I’m missing.

I pray God and tell Him: I’m very weak, my Christ, only You, by Your grace, can make me worthy, like Saint Paul the Apostle, who had rejoiced and was proudly saying:
“Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (Gal. 2:20)

For Christians, for the people of God, there is no such thing as distance.You can be with someone and at the same time you can talk with God.There are other mysteries: Christians never separate from each other.They are united even if they be thousands of miles apart.”

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Orthodox Teaching of the Elders (otelders) is a multimedia library and an online framework featuring Christian Spirituality through voices of contemporary Spiritual Fathers. Modern-day Elders' reflections on the Ancient Faith of the Christian Church (modern video Philokalia).